Join occasionally has no input...how to proceed

[parnell]

Hello.

I have a join running, but on occasion, my right side of the join will have no data (null) which is causing the join (and entire workflow) to fail. I can't have that happen, as the other data in the workflow needs to run.

Is there something I can put prior to (or after) my join that will help me with this?

Thank you in advance.

[MarqueeCrew · Accepted solution]

If I'm understanding you @parnell correctly, you have a join where the RIGHT side (could be LEFT) of the incoming data sometimes has 0, 1 or many rows.  In the case where 0 rows are present, the JOIN tool fails.

If that is the correct problem, then I would recommend that you:

1. TEXT INPUT tool configuration with the JOIN KEY fields defined with valid TYPE of data but illogical values.  If you are joining on ID and STATE as an example, make the ID -1 and the STATE ZZ.  Just create 1 record in the Text Input tool so that SOMETHING will always be present.
2. UNION TOOL configuration with the incoming TEXT INPUT along with the NORMAL DATA.  Ignore any field differences and KEEP all fields
3. Take the output from the Union into the RIGHT JOIN.

This way, a GARBAGE record will at minimum be present.  It will NEVER join to the data.

Cheers,

Mark

[parnell]

That did it!

Thank you MarK